Jameer Nelson, not Dwight Howard, is the true Magic captain

Enjoy the time you have left with him, Orlando fans, because this may be the last year we ever see him in a Magic uniform.

The team captain and team leader may be playing somewhere else next year.

The man who has been the heart and soul of the Orlando Magic for the past eight years — the first-round draft pick who Magic executives hoped would help lead the franchise to a championship — soon may be gone.

At this point, he's the only team captain the Magic have left. With Dwight out in L.A. rehabbing his back, it's up to Jameer now to somehow try to lead this undermanned team to an improbable conquest of the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

But, sadly, this may be his last postseason with the Magic. Nelson has a player option for the 2012-13 season that gives him the right to sign a free agent contract elsewhere if he so chooses. He can either opt in with the Magic for one more season and earn about $7.8 million or opt out and test the free-agent market. He will need to make this decision and declare his intentions within a week of the Magic's final playoff game.

But right now, he's not worried about his future. He has a playoff series he's trying to win. And make no mistake about it, if the Magic are going to upset the Pacers, it will be because Jameer wills them to victory.

This is the perfect role for him — the ultimate underdog player leading the ultimate underdog team. He must feel like he's in college all over again when he led tiny St. Joseph's to a No. 1 seed in the 2004 NCAA Tournament.

"I've had a chip on my shoulder my whole life," Nelson says. "Ever since I can remember, people have been telling me what I can't do. Now they're doing the same thing with this team."

With Dwight out, Jameer is now the key to this team's offense. It is absolutely imperative that the smallest player on the team comes up the biggest for the Magic. He must play better than he did in Game 2, when he hit only 4-of-13 shots and scored 12 points. In fact, the entire Magic offense, which has shot below 40 percent in both games of the series, must play with more passion and more precision. And that responsibility, too, falls upon Jameer.

"We rely on Jameer to get us into our offense, get us organized, create shots, and he's got to score for us, too," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy says. "We've put a lot on him since Dwight's been out."

But if anybody will do it without complaining, it is Nelson — the ultimate team player and consummate professional. This guy has played through criticism, through concussions, through controversy and never once uttered a discouraging word.

Even earlier this season when GM Otis Smith claimed Dwight had thrown his good friend Jameer "under the bus" by wanting to go play with All-Star point guards Chris Paul or Deron Williams, Nelson responded as you would expect. He talked about being a pro and having a job to do no matter what. "If I was hurt (by Dwight wanting to leave Orlando to go play with Paul or Williams), I'm over it," Nelson said then.

Question: Have you ever seen Jameer lose his cool and yell at an official? Watch him sometime. If he disagrees with a call, he will respectfully go up and have a conversation with the ref, stating his case without the anger and incivility so many other players show.

While Dwight is the one who talks about being the leader of the team, Jameer is the one who acts like it. He's the one who gets his teammates together in his hometown of Philly for offseason basketball and bonding. Dwight builds his brand during the summer; Jameer builds his team.

So enjoy the time you have left with him, Orlando fans.

Dwight may be the Magic's Man of Steel with the red cape.

But Jameer is the Man of Real with the blue collar.

mbianchi@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on 740 AM.